Until Sunday, it will be a very quiet Fiesta

The one thing you can take to heart from the Fiesta Bowl camp this week is you can't take anything from the Fiesta Bowl camp to heart.

That's just the way the bowl game before the bowl game is played. There will be no tipping of hands, nothing said to diminish the BCS' drama before its pairings are announced Sunday night.

The biggest current question is who the Fiesta will select for its two BCS at-large spots if Texas beats Nebraska as expected in Saturday's Big 12 title game? Iowa? Penn State? Boise State? TCU?

It would almost surely be two of those four, with no more than one allowed from the Big Ten.

Trying to get a handle on what Fiesta Bowl poobahs are thinking, I turned to a veteran of the bowl selection game.

Tom Starr has run five bowls. He is the president of the Dallas Football Classic, a bowl that will debut next year at the Cotton Bowl stadium, with Big Ten and Big 12 affiliations.

Starr has Iowa family ties, and has had the Hawkeyes in two of his bowls (Freedom, Sun) and Iowa State in one (Independence).

“Iowa's really always in the catbird's seat because of its great following,” Starr said. “There's nobody like Iowa fans, and Iowa State's are good, too. That's very important.”

With conference affiliations and pecking orders, many bowls have little say in their matchups. But the Fiesta will not only determine its own pairing, but will basically decide what the Orange and the Capital One bowls have left for options. So what does the Fiesta want?

“You always look at the matchup first,” said Starr. “It also helps if it's an exciting football team, maybe with a star player like a Heisman or Outland Trophy candidate.

“Who makes the decision depends on the bowl. Some are volunteer driven. Some have strong staffs. Some are owned by ESPN, six of them now.

“TV ratings are important, especially for the big boys.”

Last January, the Penn State-USC Rose Bowl had a Nielsen rating of 11.73. The Texas-Ohio State Fiesta Bowl had a 10.37, while the Utah-Alabama Sugar Bowl had a 7.81 and the Cincinnati-Virginia Tech Orange Bowl had a mere 5.41.

“Any time you get the Big Ten it's good,” Starr said. “The Big Ten brings you New York. The Big Ten brings you Chicago.”

Chicago, I get. But New York? Hey, the ratings don't lie.

“The Big Ten just plays well in New York,” he said. “It always has.”

What's for sure is Iowa's 21-10 win at Penn State in late September is virtually meaningless to Metro Phoenix.

Penn State brags on its television ratings and national following. No one has to introduce Joe Paterno to college football fans in any corner of the U.S.

But in these trying economic times, can the Fiesta Bowl and Phoenix afford to pass up a deluge of tourists from Iowa who would arrive around New Year's for the Jan. 4 game? Or could it skip the Big Ten altogether and line up a battle of unbeatens in Boise State and TCU?

Most bowls wish they had such options to consider.

Is this really a better system than the old days, when bowl representatives and athletics directors huddled over cigars and cocktails to get deals done?

“I remember being at Ohio State once and there were 13 other bowls there, with all of us wearing our colored blazers,” Starr said. “I said we looked like a box of Trix.”

But Trix are for kids. The projected payout for each team in a BCS game is $17 million. Green is the only color that counts.